


Across the Azure Sea

by AceCavalier



Series: Tale of Two Kings (Dimiclaude In-Canon Series) [2]
Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Claude loves Dimitri and they are there for each other, Claumitri, Comfort, Cuddling & Snuggling, Dimitri is sad and loves Claude, Emotional Angst and Comfort, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route Spoilers, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Golden Deer Route Spoilers, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Kissing, M/M, Marriage Proposal, Nonbinary My Unit | Byleth, Sad Goodbyes, Takes Place in Blue Lions Route, added scene, and other wholesome nonsense, dimiclaude, sort of???
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-10
Updated: 2019-09-10
Packaged: 2020-10-13 23:50:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,097
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20591165
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AceCavalier/pseuds/AceCavalier
Summary: Five years ago, they spent their nights talking to one another in the library as friends.Now, in the midst of war, Dimitri knows his feelings for Claude go far beyond friendship, and he also knows that his feelings, regardless of their strength, are pointless. No matter how hard they try, their responsibilities will always pull them apart, but that won't stop Claude from stealing a proper farewell.





	Across the Azure Sea

**Author's Note:**

> I absolutely did not get emotional while writing this. Absolutely not. Not even slightly. Ok, just a little bit. Maybe a lot.  
I'm a huge sap for two struggling characters comforting and supporting one another and I just really love this ship and I love both Dimitri and Claude and want them to be happy. 
> 
> I imagine this scene taking place after the battle at Dierdru. It has some pretty significant spoilers for both the Blue Lions and Golden Deer routes. It kind of follows on from an earlier Dimiclaude piece of mine (Crescent Moon and Silver Stars) so I decided to create a series for all of my canon-divergent Dimiclaude works. And yes, there will absolutely be a part 3!
> 
> As always I thrive on any and all comments and feedback, so please let me know what you think! And thank you so much for reading!

_“And remember… both the living and the dead cling to us without any regard for our own lives. It’s up to us to break free of that weight and follow the path that we believe in.”_

Those words continued to echo through Dimitri’s mind as he sat in one of the more lavish rooms of the Riegan manor, which now served as temporary housing for him and his closest allies. The entire city had been evacuated, thanks to Claude’s careful planning, but the silence hanging over Dierdru was deafening and made for more sombre victory celebrations than usual. Dimitri, in particular, had struggled to even pretend to celebrate, and had retreated to his room almost as soon as the evening’s feast had begun. Gilbert would pester him about it in the morning, but Dimitri simply had too much on his mind.

Claude was leaving Fódlan. He had promised to return, yes, but many years would pass until then? And would Dimitri still be alive to see him?

It had been foolish of Dimitri to hope that Claude would agree to fight alongside him – this had never been Claude’s war, or even the Alliance’s at all – but nonetheless, he had hoped. He had his friends, Gilbert, and his old professor, yes, but Claude… Claude knew him even better than his childhood friends in many ways, and his parting words had proven it. He knew how it felt to live a life controlled by someone, or _something_, else.

Their experiences were far from identical, of course, yet the sentiment was the same. Both of them bore a weight they had never asked for or been prepared to carry, and both of them had struggled to overcome obstacles far greater than any person could on their own. Without ever revealing the truth of their burdens, that shared weight had drawn them together over their year at the Officers Academy, and Claude’s friendship was something Dimitri had missed bitterly in the rare moments of clarity where the red faded from his vision and he could allow himself to lament the mangled wreck of his path. If Claude had been with him, could things have been different?

Dimitri shook his head; dwelling on past hypotheticals would do him no good. Neither, now that he thought of it, would dwelling on his friendship with Claude. For whatever purpose, Claude had left Fódlan, and Dimitri, behind, and there was all too great a chance that he would never see the enigmatic trickster again. He should be happy for Claude, that he was alive and finally free from his obligations to the Alliance, and yet, Dimitri couldn’t help but feel a heavy sorrow settle in his gut and refuse to budge.

He rose from where he sat on the silken covers of the bed and crossed to the window, looking out into the dark. Night’s reign had well and truly settled over Fódlan, with the rest of the manor and the barracks that housed their soldiers deep in their slumber. Glimmers of moonlight caught on the sea’s restless waves, dotting the azure canvas of the coast with streaks of silver and white, a shining contrast to the still darkness of the city. East, across that canvas, was Almyra, where Claude was likely headed.

Though in their time together Dimitri had managed to unravel some of Claude’s mysteries, the truth of his background and his ties to Almyra had remained thoroughly tangled. He remembered the glint in those green eyes whenever Dimitri had tried to pester him about it.

_“Maybe one day, Your Princeliness.”_

A sigh left his lips. To say that he wouldn’t miss those bright green eyes, that smooth voice, that mischievous grin, would be an outright lie. Dimitri closed his eye and allowed himself to hold the image of Claude as he’d seen him earlier, older and stronger and impossibly handsome, in his mind, wishing he had the skill and vision to etch the visage onto paper, to ensure he wouldn’t forget it. So that it would feel, at least a little, like Claude had never left at all…

A tap against the glass, softly. Dimitri frowned. Was it starting to rain?

Two taps in quick succession. A pause. Two more. An odd pattern for rain.

Dimitri opened his eye and gave a cry of alarm.

There, on the other side of the window, was none other than the trickster himself, grinning from ear to ear as he seemed to hover in mid-air. Recovering quickly from his surprise, Dimitri yanked the window open, nearly ripping it clean off its hinges.

“_Claude?!_”

“Shhh, not so loud!” Claude raised a finger to his lips. “I’m not supposed to be here, remember?”

“Then what are you…?!” Dimitri gestured towards the sea, fumbling to form a coherent sentence. “I thought… You were… Aren’t you meant to be…?”

Claude pouted. “Gee, if you don’t want me here, I can leave…”

“No! Goddess, no, please stay.” Dimitri shook his head. He was about to start babbling about how happy he was to see Claude again when a thought struck him. The room he’d been given was positioned on the top floor of the manor. How had…? He leaned out of the window and looked down. The red eyes of a white wyvern gleamed back up at him, and Dimitri jerked back, earning a quiet laugh from Claude.

“Meet Honesty. Honesty, meet Dimitri.”

The wyvern had used its sharp talons and claws to cling to the wall of the manor, cutting large grooves into the stone. Giving its scaled neck a quick pat, Claude carefully pulled himself from the saddle onto the stone, using one of Honesty’s wings for support, and reached a hand for Dimitri, who hurriedly took it and lifted Claude through the window. When he was settled on solid ground, Claude straightened his clothing and turned back to Dimitri with his trademark grin.

“Sorry to drop in unannounced. I just couldn’t stand leaving without a proper goodbye, I guess. That, and Judith was starting to drive me crazy. I’d rather fly the whole way to Almyra by myself than put up with her pestering.”

So he _was_ heading to Almyra, as Dimitri had guessed. He was about to ask Claude why when the sound of footsteps outside his door distracted him, followed by Dedue’s low voice.

“Your Highness! Is everything alright? I heard a yell and…”

“Everything’s fine, Dedue!” Dimitri called back, a little too quickly. “I just, uh… gave myself a scare, is all. I, uh, apologise for disturbing your sleep.”

Claude’s expression was a scathing review of his performance.

“No need for apologies, Your Highness. Are you certain you’re alright?”

“Yes! Perfectly fine, thank you, Dedue. There’s no need to worry.”

“Of course. Please try to get some rest.”

“I, uh… I will, yes.”

The footsteps retreated, and Dimitri offered Claude an apologetic look. “Between Dedue, Gilbert, and the professor, I scarcely have a moment to myself these days.”

“How does a few moments with me sound, instead?” Claude offered, as casually as if he were inviting Dimitri to tea. “There’s a spot just outside the city I used to sneak off to all the time. I can show it to you, we can chat, and… well, do whatever we want.” He winked, and Dimitri hoped to Sothis that he wasn’t blushing.

“Claude, I…” He glanced back at the door, listening for any sounds of activity. Silence. If anyone were to enter his room and find him missing, there would be panic, but who would be looking for him at this hour? And though he considered himself a determined man, when it came to Claude, his heart was particularly fickle. “Alright.”

Claude’s smile was dazzling.

“Perfect! Come on then, Honesty can take us there.”

“Honesty…?” repeated Dimitri as Claude began to climb back out the window. “You mean…?”

“Well, we won’t be _walking_ there, that’s for sure.” Steadying himself with one hand on the window frame, Claude nimbly lowered himself down the wall and back onto the wyvern’s saddle before looking up at Dimitri and waving at him. “Don’t worry, I’ve got you.”

Dimitri hesitated. He had flown on a wyvern once or twice before, when assisting with group tasks at the monastery, but he had always been uncomfortable with the sensation of being so far off the ground even for short distances. That had been years ago, when he wasn’t so tall or broad, and he worried that his weight as well as Claude’s would be too much for one wyvern to carry. What if they…? Claude, immediately recognising his pause as anxiety, shook his head.

“You trust me, right?”

He looked Dimitri in the eye, green into blue, and Dimitri’s hesitation vanished.

“Always.”

“Then get down here before the sun comes up!”

Getting through the window was Dimitri’s first challenge, and he was glad he’d thought to remove his armour earlier in the evening and didn’t have to struggle to manoeuvre with its added bulk. Glancing down, trying to focus on Claude’s encouraging grin and not the cobbled street far below, he began to gingerly toe his way down the wall, pressing his chest against it to avoid feeling like he might tip back and fall. At one point his foot slipped from its perch and he was certain we would plummet, but a leathery wing gently caught him before he could drop, and he looked over his shoulder to see he was close enough that Claude could reach him.

It was no small effort to try and help haul Dimitri onto the wyvern’s back, but between Claude’s attempts and Honesty’s patience, Dimitri was soon positioned in the saddle behind Claude.

Claude glanced back at him with a wicked look.

“Better hold on, Your Kingliness.”

“Wait, Claude, how do – _ahhhhh!”_

Honesty gave a great heave and launched herself from the wall, nearly throwing Dimitri from the saddle. He managed to remain seated only because of, in part, the balance he’d honed from years of riding horses, and mostly because he instinctively latched his arms around Claude’s torso and clung to him like his life depended on it. Which, to Dimitri, it absolutely did.

Honesty beat her wings one, twice, pushing the three of them up into the air before smoothing out into a glide over the rooftops of the neighbouring houses.

Still clutching to Claude, Dimitri couldn’t tear his eyes away from the blur of houses and streets below him, getting further and further away as Honesty ascended once more. It was both hypnotising and sickening, and he felt his head spin. He might have lost what little dinner he’d eaten had a hand on his arm not finally distracted him.

“Uh, Dimitri…” Claude’s voice was strained. “Mind loosening your grip… before you break my ribs…?”

“Oh!”

Dimitri managed to close his eye long enough that he could lift his head away from the torrent of motion underneath them and realise that he was, indeed, still gripping onto Claude with far more strength than necessary. He relaxed his arms a little, but still kept them wrapped around Claude, too scared of falling to let go completely.

“Sorry!” he called over the rushing wind in his ears. Claude simply laughed.

“I never thought you’d be scared of a little flying! Don’t worry, Honesty’s the best flyer around. She’ll get us there safe and sound, right girl?”

He leaned forward to pat the wyvern’s neck, and Dimitri had to bite back a protest at the movement. When Claude straightened again, his back was pressed against Dimitri’s chest; Dimitri wondered if he had done so deliberately. Either way, the added closeness was reassuring to Dimitri, enough so that he opened his eye and let himself take in the view.

Being slightly taller than Claude, Dimitri could see past him to the broad stretch of dark ocean ahead of them. To the left and right, Fódlan’s jagged coastline was soon swallowed up in the waves that curved endlessly across the horizon, until the silver light on the water blended with the scattered stars. The sight was so wondrously beautiful that for a moment Dimitri forgot he was flying on a wyvern at all, until Claude shifted slightly and Honesty banked to the left, causing Dimitri to cling a little tighter again.

They turned away from the ocean back towards Fódlan, to the weathered cliffs of dark rock that rose out from the sea and surrounded Dierdru. One of the cliff faces jutted out further into the water than the others, striving against the crashing waves like the bow of a ship. It was towards this area that Claude steered them, the subtle changes in his balance indicating to Honesty how to adjust her course; perhaps riding a wyvern wasn’t so different from riding a horse, after all.

The cliff approached them quickly, and soon Honesty spread her wings wide to slow herself. They landed with a jarring thud that made Dimitri’s teeth rattle and skidded for a moment before finally coming to a stop. Honesty gave a pleased cry and lowered herself down to the ground, wings curled to her sides. There was a tug on Dimitri’s arms.

“I’m afraid you’re going to have to let me go while we dismount,” said Claude. “Difficult, I know.”

“Oh, right.” And he _was_ right – Dimitri was certainly reluctant to put distance between himself and Claude, but nonetheless pulled his arms away and leaned back as Claude swung a leg over the front of the saddle and gracefully slid to the ground before turning to help Dimitri.

“Just like getting off a horse,” Claude offered when he saw Dimitri’s frown. “Leg over, slide down.”

“I know how to get off a horse,” Dimitri huffed back at him.

Placing his hands behind him on the back of the saddle, Dimitri mimicked the way Claude had lifted his leg up and over the front. As he went to ease himself down to the ground, however, Honesty lurched up and shook herself, rudely dislodging Dimitri from his perch on the edge of the saddle. He managed to land on his feet but staggered; Claude reached out to catch him just as he tripped, and Dimitri, not wanting to crush him, grabbed him and turned, falling flat on his back with an _oof_ as Claude landed on top of him.

There was a moment, as they both tried to process what had happened, that they simply lay like that, motionless, hearts hammering just inches from each other, before Claude smirked down at him.

“You know, I usually prefer to have the other person on top, but I could get used to this…”

It took Dimitri a second to understand the implication.

“… _Claude!”_

He shoved Claude off him – ignoring the other man’s unhappy grunt as he hit the dirt – and picked himself up off the ground, brushing grass and leaves from his clothes. Honesty, unaware of her role in the mishap, had already trundled off a short distance and was beginning to curl herself up on the ground, likely to get the sleep she had missed due to Claude’s midnight escapade.

Dimitri turned to help Claude stand and found him sitting upright, patting the spot to his right.

“I promise I’ll keep the tasteless jokes to a minimum.”

“I find that rather hard to believe…”

Nonetheless, Dimitri did join him, lowering himself slowly back to the ground, still a little sore from the day’s fight and the recent tumble. He sat with his legs crossed and his elbows on his knees, while Claude stretched his own legs out in front of him, leaning back on his hands. They both looked out over the cliff, where the sea and sky were once again an indistinguishable sheet of black and silver. A crescent moon gleamed down on them, bathing them and the grass around them in cool light. On a whim, Dimitri glanced over at Claude; he felt his breath catch in his throat and his heart stutter at the sight of Claude’s handsome features caught in that soft glow, his green eyes impossibly bright, his smile indescribably warm. The closest thing to perfect Dimitri had ever seen.

Claude noticed Dimitri’s staring and smiled.

“Like the view?”

Caught-out, Dimitri immediately looked away, feeling heat spread across his face. “S-Sorry, I just… I was so worried I wouldn’t ever see you again…”

“Hey, I said I’d come back, didn’t I?” His tone softened. “I won’t be gone forever, I promise. I just have to sort a few things out.”

“In Almyra?”

A pause. “Back home, yeah. When I left… Well, there’s plenty of unfinished business I want to see resolved. And when I do, I hope that your new, united Fódlan and Almyra can be allies.”

It wasn’t a complete surprise. That there were connections between Claude and Almyra, Dimitri had been certain of that, and clearly those connections were significant. Perhaps significant enough that Claude would return in a position of great power. Regardless of his standing, Dimitri had no doubt in his mind that, whatever his unfinished business entailed, Claude would achieve what he set out to do – that was simply the kind of man he was. Dimitri’s own business, however… His face fell.

“I would love nothing more than to be allied with your home country, Claude, but… if I lose this war…”

He was stopped by Claude’s hand on his arm.

“Hey. I know you’ll win this, Dimitri. You have the Kingdom and the Alliance at your back now, there’s no way Edelgard can hope to match a force like that. You’ve got Teach to help you, too, and I’ve never seen a fight they couldn’t find a way to win.” The hand on his arm gave a gentle squeeze. “Most importantly, I believe in _you_.”

Dimitri shut his one good eye. “Thank you, Claude. It means a lot to hear that.”

It didn’t stop his fear from rising in his chest, however. As Claude had said, they had a powerful force on their side, and the professor had proven to be an undefeated commander in battle, but even with all of that, even if the war was won, what would become of Dimitri? Would he fall to Edelgard’s army, or to Edelgard herself if he faced her? Would his recklessness get the better of him and finally put a sword through his chest? And if he did survive, how could he ever expect to be worthy of the title of king? He hadn’t realised he was shaking until he felt Claude’s arms wrap around his trembling shoulders and pull him close, close enough that he felt Claude’s hair against his cheek.

“I mean it, Dimitri. I believe in you. More than that, I _need_ you to survive this. What’s the point of coming back to Fódlan if your handsome face isn’t here to greet me?”

“Claude, I…” his voice broke a little, “I’m not sure I can do this. After everything… how can I…?”

“You _can_, Dimitri. We’ve all made mistakes, but that doesn’t mean we can never right the wrongs of our past. If we lived our whole lives weighed down by regret, we’d never move forward at all.” His hands shifted again to cup Dimitri’s face and lift his head up. Dimitri opened his eye to Claude’s stern face close to his, their noses almost touching. “You _can_ move forward. You have a good heart, a kind heart, and that kindness can be a weakness, yes, but it’s also your greatest strength. Trust me, I’ve seen it time and time again; I couldn’t get my head around it for a long while. But that heart of yours is exactly what will make you a great king, and I wouldn’t just say that. Good leaders are a hard thing to come by in this world, but you’ll be one of them. I just know it. So don’t prove me wrong, ok?”

A tear stumbled its way down Dimitri’s cheek to pool against Claude’s thumb; he gently wiped it away. The heavy lump that was his heart, sluggish and bloated with sadness and fear and guilt, had just enough room left in it for the love he felt for Claude, warm and bright and overwhelming. More tears followed the first, and Claude’s expression softened.

“Hey, Dima, don’t cry. You’ll get through this, I know you will. If you really need me, I… I’ll stay here, for you…”

Dimitri shook his head, placing his own hands over Claude’s, delighting in how warm they felt against his cold skin. “No, Claude. You have your responsibilities to your home, just I have to mine. I would never stop you from following your heart.”

“No?” Claude grinned, but there was an undeniable sadness in his eyes. “I have to admit, if I followed just my heart, I’m not sure where it would take me.”

Fighting to blink away a fresh wave of tears, Dimitri frowned at him. “What do you mean by that?”

It was difficult to see through one watery eye in the moonlit dark, but Dimitri fancied he might have seen a blush creep across Claude’s stunning face.

“Part of my heart tells me to go back home, see to fixing the things I left behind.” His voice went quiet, and he struggled to hold Dimitri’s gaze. “And the other part… it wants me to stay here. To stay with you. Always.”

He was barely speaking above a whisper now, and his own eyes had begun to water as he looked down, his lips a tight line. It was incredibly rare to see and hear Claude so vulnerable, and for a moment Dimitri was at a loss. Uncertain of what else to do, he removed his hands from over the top of Claude’s and instead placed them on Claude’s shoulders. He leaned forward so that their foreheads touched and the tips of their noses brushed together.

“Then I promise you that we will be. When I have won this war, and you have resolved your business in Almyra, we can be together. _Always_.”

Claude glanced up at him, green eyes glistening with the threat of tears. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

The hands cupping his jaw pulled him in, and Dimitri didn’t resist. For the first time in five years, their lips met, cautious and careful at first, testing the feel of it, before growing bolder, more desperate. Claude was crying openly now, his breaths ragged and choked when they paused, and Dimitri kissed away his tears, kissed across his nose and cheeks, kissed him slowly and lovingly, and Claude kissed him back. They had never kissed like this before, like they needed each other more than they needed air, unashamed and unembarrassed by their affection, knowing it would be their last chance to do so for what could be many years.

When their lungs ached too much to continue, they finally parted and simply stared adoringly at one another; Dimitri made sure to focus on each and every feature of Claude’s face, wanting to remember the image as clearly as possible. Then Claude shuffled closer and leaned into him, and Dimitri held him snug against his chest, hoping that Claude couldn’t feel how his heart still thrummed against his ribs.

“You’ll wait for me?” Claude asked him, his voice hoarse.

“For as long as it takes. And you will be sure to return?”

“As soon as I can.”

They sat together like that for a long time. Dimitri wasn’t certain how much time had passed, and he found he couldn’t bring himself to care. Even if the sun began to rise ahead of them, Dimitri wouldn’t have wanted to move. He wished they could stay like that forever, wrapped in each other’s warmth, unphased by the rest of the world; he wished the war could pass by without him, march on south and leave him behind so that he and Claude could remain there, together on the clifftop, until the grass had grown over them and the world had forgotten them.

But it could never be more than a wish. The kingdom needed him to lead the war, and Almyra needed Claude – the world would pry them apart no matter how hard they wished it wouldn’t.

Eventually, Claude stirred, grumbling something about how his legs had fallen asleep. They both stood, scrubbing the tear marks from their cheeks and shaking the stiffness out of their limbs, never straying far enough away from each other that their shoulders wouldn’t occasionally brush. For a few minutes more they stared out over the cliff to the ocean, then Claude whistled for Honesty, and the white wyvern, disturbed from her rest, came lumbering towards them. The flight back was spent in silence, Dimitri once again seated behind Claude with his arms wrapped around Claude’s waist, but he was unafraid this time. He trusted Claude with all his heart, whether it was to carry him safely through the sky, or to fulfil a promise in the years to come.

Still, when the Riegan manor came into view, Dimitri willed Honesty to turn them back around and fly them both across the sea together. For just a second, he felt the wyvern hesitate, felt her course begin to shift a little beneath them, before it straightened again. Honesty spread her wings to glide steadily towards the manor, slowing down as they approached it. Two rapid wing beats, a slower third, and then they had somewhat landed on the side of the manor just below Dimitri’s window. Dimitri hesitated before leaving the saddle.

“Claude, would you… Would you mind staying with me, just for tonight?”

The other man twisted in the saddle a little, just enough to peer back at Dimitri; he looked unsure.

“If I get caught, that’s going to take a bit more explaining than even I’m capable off…” A beat. “But… as long as I’m gone by sunrise, I guess it should be fine.”

Dimitri couldn’t disguise the joy in his smile even if he wanted to. They helped each other clamber up and through Dimitri’s still-open window before Claude instructed Honesty to wait on the roof until he called for her – and instruct was really the only word Dimitri could use to describe the series of coo’s and hand gestures Claude used to communicate with the wyvern. Somehow, Honesty seemed to understand, and pushed away from the wall to disappear out of view.

With Honesty gone, Dimitri slipped out of his clothes and removed his eyepatch while Claude stripped himself of his travelling gear, leaving his loose tunic over his chest. They crawled under the silk sheets together to lay facing each other, Claude snuggled against Dimitri’s chest, Dimitri with his chin resting in Claude’s windblown hair, their arms wrapped around each other.

As sleep began to steal over him, a thought toyed with his mind, keeping him awake.

“Claude…?”

“Mm?”

“How did you know which room I was in?”

Dimitri felt Claude’s chuckle rumble through him.

“A lucky guess, actually. This is one of the nicest rooms in the manor, and it has the best view. It’s also my old room.”

“Wait, truly?”

“Uh-huh.” Claude paused to yawn. “When I became duke, I got the previous duke’s room instead, but I always missed this one…”

His words mumbled away into silence, and Dimitri could hear his breathing slow as he started to fall asleep. Somehow, they had always had a strange instinct for one another, an uncanny way of guessing where the other might be or what they were thinking, as though something intangible bound them together. Dimitri hoped that, whatever that mysterious force was, it was strong enough to reach across the sea that separated Fódlan and Almyra.

The sound of Claude’s steady breathing and the warmth of their embrace gently lulled him into a deep and undisturbed sleep, where he dreamt only of Claude’s smiling face beneath a blanket of stars.

When he woke the next morning, Claude was already gone. The space next to Dimitri on the bed was still warm, and he could still feel the ghost of Claude’s lips on his cheek. Leaping from the bed, Dimitri dashed to the window, where the first golden fingers of dawn had begun to reach up from beyond the horizon, and saw, already far beyond the coastline, a silhouetted figure soaring through the air. Despite knowing it was coming and having already said goodbye once, Dimitri couldn’t help the terrible sadness that swept through him at the sight. He really was gone.

His heart heavy, Dimitri turned away from the window and noticed a small pouch with a note on the dresser nearby. Certain they hadn’t been there the night before, he carefully picked up the note and read it.

_Didn’t have the heart to wake you. I meant what I said last night, I’ll be back as soon as I settle things in Almyra. And I really do believe in you. Just keep following that big heart of yours and you’ll make a great king. _

_I’ve left something for you. You can give me an answer once I get back. And make sure Teach takes care of my bow, would you?_

_Claude_

Dimitri read it again, then once more for good measure, letting himself hear the words in Claude’s voice, or as close as he could manage. Folding the note again, he turned his attention to the pouch; it was made of stitched brown leather and tied with golden silk. The crest of Riegan had been stitched in gold onto the front of the pouch. Dimitri carefully wriggled the string loose and tipped the pouch’s contents into his open palm.

The ring settled comfortably there, cool against his suddenly burning skin, still and silent under Dimitri’s wide-eyed stare. A simple gold band engraved with the repeated pattern of the crest of Riegan flanked by the crest of Blaiddyd. Shakily, Dimitri lifted the ring and placed it on his finger; a perfect fit, as though it had been meticulously measured to be just his size. For a moment all he could do was gaze at it in wonder as the whole world around him vanished, leaving just him and this promise – Claude’s promise. He brought his hand to his lips and whispered against it.

“Yes.”

Over the coming days, a number of soldiers were heard discussing the king-to-be’s unusually cheerful demeanour, and the strange way he could be seen staring east into the sky with a look on his face that could only be described as fond.


End file.
